In fact, as early as last week, during our social media seminar, we were asked why social networking is important and how it can help individual companies.

A few years ago there were few answers to these questions. The buzz was there – that social networking was the be-all-end-all to every industry – but no one had solid results on how social network marketing helped or hurt a company’s bottom line.

Today the story is very different. As more and more businesses add social media to their marketing programs, the more available real results have become. Perhaps not in terms of actual financial figures, but rest assured that social network marketing is working in other ways to help companies keep a hold on their customers.

In fact, as early as last week, during our social media seminar, we were asked why social networking is important and how it can help individual companies.

A few years ago there were few answers to these questions. The buzz was there – that social networking was the be-all-end-all to every industry – but no one had solid results on how social network marketing helped or hurt a company’s bottom line.

Today the story is very different. As more and more businesses add social media to their marketing programs, the more available real results have become. Perhaps not in terms of actual financial figures, but rest assured that social network marketing is working in other ways to help companies keep a hold on their customers.

Perhaps we can turn to one of the most famous men in the world to educate us about the merits of Social Networking and business: Barack Obama. Obama’s campaign was able to market its brand through Social Networking to gain a sizable and distinct advantage over its political opponents during the 2008 presidential campaign.

At an early stage in 2007, Obama sought the advice of Netscape founder and Facebookboard member Marc Andreessen about how to best take advantage of Social Networking. The consultation prompted the Obama machine to tap into more than 200 social sites to reign over the competition when it came to Social Networking campaigning.

Orkut: Not as Popular as Myspace or Facebook, but Still Worth Your Time

The name “Orkut” sounds like some kind of mysterious JK Rowling creature…but when you get down to it, so does “Google.” Orkut.com happens to be Google’s original Social Networking site named after its creator, and employee of Google – Orkut Büyükkökten. The three top countries that use Orkut are Brazil, India and the United States, with Brazilian members making up more than half of the user base.

Competing with the big heavy sites like MySpace and Facebook has limited Orkut’s impact within the US market, but Google has continued to add exciting new features to stimulate user satisfaction, activity and new applications. Throughout 2008, some new features that have been added range from chatting (via Google Talk), to mobile, to enabling private forums.